Imaginary Love
by pandorabox82
Summary: Kendra needs a night with her best friends after she has the illusion of Flannery's charm stripped away from her.


Kendra had barely even registered when Emily had left the office, simply turning onto her side as she hugged herself, thinking about what she had learned over the course of a day. The disillusionment that had come with meeting up with Flannery once more was still crashing down upon her heart, and she knew that she was likely to start crying once more. Her heart ached in a strange way, and she sighed a little before pursing her lips together in a vain effort to keep her tears inside.

"I noticed that your light was still on, Kendra…"

She sat up suddenly, swiping away a few of the tears that lingered on her eyelashes as she tried to plaster on her usual sunny smile as she turned her head to look at Lyor. "Yeah, I'm still here. There were a few things that I needed to catch up on, chiefly, trying to find someone to fill the position that Flannery was supposed to take."

"I thought I had heard through the grapevine that there had been a small snag with his appointment. Did Emily do something to screw things up for him?"

She shook her head, watching as he came over to the sofa and took a seat next to her, opting for the other side, leaving a gulf between them that seemed impossibly large. "No." A part of her hated how vulnerable she sounded with that one word, and she watched his face carefully to see if he had picked up on the emotion there. A quick flicker of confusion swept across his face before he slid closer to her, and she reached out, wanting to have some contact with him.

In true Lyor fashion, he threaded their fingers together as he clasped her hand, holding on tightly as he looked into her eyes. "What is it, Kendra?"

"I just really feel like a fool right now?" She squeezed his hand a little before looking down at the coffee table, her silent phone catching her attention. "Would you like to go out for a really late supper? I need to prove something to myself."

He gave her a warm smile as he nodded, and she felt her heart melt a little as her shoulders relaxed. "Great. Let's get out of here." She hurriedly stood and grabbed for her phone, scrolling through the notifications she had missed. The only one she really cared about was from Seth, and he was apologizing for the tenth time that day about the way he and Emily had reacted. Shaking her head a little, she unlocked her phone and hastily texted him as they made their way out into the hall. _Meet Lyor and me at Big Joe's in fifteen minutes. You can buy the first round._

Taking a deep breath, she slipped her phone into her pocket and looked up at Lyor, noticing that his attention was fully on her, and she knew that he was analyzing her, trying to figure out what, exactly, was bothering her without her having to say a word. Kendra shook her head a little as they went out to the street. For May, the night was surprisingly brisk, and she shivered a little, a tiny smile spreading across her lips when Lyor stepped closer to her, allowing his body heat to spread over to her. They walked in a comfortable silence until they were well away from the hustle and bustle around the White House, and then he stopped her, looking her over carefully.

"Your heart is heavy."

"Got that in one," she whispered. Not caring if anyone was looking, she took hold of his hand and then continued down the sidewalk. "I told Seth we'd meet him in twenty minutes. If we continue to walk this slow, he'll think we got lost."

Lyor nodded, and Kendra let a soft sigh slip between her lips as they started to walk closer together, leaving barely enough room for their arms between them. Lyor seemed content to allow her to lead, and she was grateful for that, on this night of all nights. It felt good to walk, to let the wind caress her skin and the darkness bleed into her eyes as she looked up past the streetlights and into the sky. "Kendra, you're crying."

"Oh," she whispered as they stopped in front of the restaurant. "I suppose that I am."

Lyor shook his head a little before pulling her into a tight hug. She knew that it took a lot for him to spontaneously embrace her, and she sank into the hug, hooking her chin over his shoulder as his hands spread out on her back. "I don't know what's making your heart break, but I know that you don't have to suffer alone."

"I know." Lyor kissed the side of her head before letting her go, and they went inside together. The open layout of the restaurant allowed her to quickly scan the room, and she let out a soft, watery, giggle when she spotted Seth in a round booth in the back. They locked eyes, and his hand shot up in the air, beckoning them over with a hurried wave. "I guess that someone can't bear to be late," she said, finding her mood buoyed by his exuberance.

"He always wants to please those that he cares for. How else do you explain him staying with Emily as long as he did?"

She shrugged a little as they joined Seth, and Kendra slid in next to him, happy to be ensconced between the two of them. "I hope that you guys are happy that I suggested a burger joint for us."

"I did wonder about that, Kendra. Though I did take the liberty of ordering us all a round of Founder's Rubaeus. Our server said that she would need to see your IDs once you arrived."

Kendra nodded as she fumbled around in her purse for her wallet. Once she'd found it, she began to peruse the menu, finally settling on a calzone filled with mushrooms, green peppers, and extra cheese. Setting the menu aside, she threaded her fingers together so that she could rest her chin on them as she looked between Seth and Lyor, trying to figure out how she could possibly have been enamored with Flannery to the point where she had almost made a terrible life choice.

"There are heavy thoughts running through your brain again, Kendra," Lyor said softly as he rubbed her shoulder, and she nodded. "Then it's good that our server is on her way with our drinks." She winced a little before nodding, showing her ID to the woman before picking up her beer and taking a long swig from it. The fruity taste of it masked some of the bitterness, and she only grimaced a tiny bit before smiling at the server as Seth and Lyor ordered.

"I guess that just leaves me," she said quietly as she looked back at the menu and rattling off what she wanted. The woman nodded and left their table, allowing Kendra to slump back against the booth back, her hands folded over her stomach as she stared at a point near the door. "Today has been one of the worst in my life, and nothing you can say will make me feel better."

"How can you be having a bad day when you looked so beautiful the other night?" Seth asked, and she whipped her head to look at him, feeling her eyes narrow almost automatically. "Whoa, all right, I might have made a misstep there. Care to tell us what's wrong?"

Kendra drew in a deep breath, a tiny smile passing quickly across her face when Lyor's hand slipped off the table to rest on her knee. "You ever look back at your past and realise that a decision you made long ago, when you thought you were so grownup and mature, turned out to be one of the largest mistakes you've ever made?"

Lyor's hand tightened around her kneecap, and she knew that he had made a similar misstep in his own life. Seth, though, just cocked his head to one side as he regarded her before he shrugged a little. "I try not to focus too much on the past, honestly. We just have to keep moving forward, and when we dwell on what's gone before, we forget to really live."

Kendra rolled her eyes a little before letting her head thump heavily onto his shoulder, her right hand covering Lyor's on her knee. "That must be why we keep you around. You can be our ray of shining optimism while we sink further into the quagmire that is our despondency."

Seth laughed a little as he shook his head, reaching up with one hand to ruffle her hair lightly. "I think that you are the optimistic one of our group, Kendra. You never fail to have a bright smile for us even on the hardest days." There was a slight hitch to his breathing before Kendra felt him kiss the top of her head. "Your entire demeanor just seems to bring a joy to whatever room you enter."

"Careful there, I might have to remind you about hitting on your coworkers," she teased, feeling the tears that had been trembling in her eyes start to recede. And I really don't want to have to fill out another set of paperwork that would inform everyone about the nature of things between me and a coworker."

She glanced over at Lyor, watching him try to swallow his smirk. When that failed to work, he picked up his beer and took a delicate sip from it. "Another set?" Seth asked, immediately making the connection that so many others had failed to make in the three weeks since she and Lyor had made things quietly public. Neither had wanted to make a big fuss of things, since they were both private people. Which made what had almost happened earlier all the more unconscionable.

"Yes, Seth, another set. Don't act so shocked, you know that we've been close for months now," Lyor said as Kendra sat back up and reached for her beer, hugging it close to her chest as a comfortable silence fell upon them. "What decision are you regretting, Kendra?"

She turned her head to look at Lyor, her smile slipping a little as she rubbed her lips together, trying to come up with a way to explain to them that her entire past had shattered into a million pieces and it had taken her watching her former mentor over the course of a few days to realise her naiveite. "I regret putting Flannery up on a pedestal, turning him into a god when it was obvious that he had deep flaws. Being charming, though, that was never a problem for him." A mirthless laugh slipped from her lips before she took another long drag from her glass, nearly draining it. Before she could signal for another, their server appeared at their table with a fresh beer for her.

"Your food should be up shortly," she said, and they all nodded in unison as she slipped away from the table.

"Someone has to tell me a happy story, to take away the sting of this. Please?"

Seth nodded as he settled his arm around her shoulders, his fingers brushing against Lyor's arm in a comfortable way. "I suppose that's my cue to say something, since we all know Lyor only deals in facts and useless trivia."

"Hey!" Lyor interjected, trying to sound offended, but there was too much affection in the word to sound truly hurt. "I'll have you know that it is a good thing that I pay attention to even the most minute detail, and that my retention of said details allows me to recall things exactly when we need them."

"Keep telling yourself that, Lyor," Seth teased gently. Kendra giggled a little as she looked over at her Lyor, just barely in time to catch the small wink he sent her way. "All right, so, a happy story. Well, more funny than happy. When I was three, we were staying at my cousin's house for a few weeks in the summer. Even though they lived in the country, it was still a busy road. And I don't know how my cousin talked me into this, but we had just gotten back from a family vacation where we saw a lot of marble statues. Again, let me stress, a lot of marble statues."

"You didn't," Lyor breathed out, and Kendra wondered what he somehow had gotten from that tiny introduction that she hadn't. And just as she was about to prod Seth to continue, their food arrived, and a hush fell over the table as their server set their food down in front of them. "Thank you," he said as they began to dig in. Kendra found herself picking at her calzone, her appetite not what it had been earlier.

Seth seemed to notice her listlessness, as he nudged her with his shoulder before starting into his story once more. "So, as I was saying, our parents all thought that we had been cultured in the last week, but all we really took from it was that the ancient world had it right. Everyone should be naked, all the time." She giggled a little, taking a bite of her calzone, waiting for him to continue on with his story. "So, we decided to play statues out in the front yard. And of course, Nichol teased me until I had stripped down to my underwear. I refused to go any further until he had also gotten similarly undressed.

"So here we are, two little brown boys in their tighty whities, stuck in a tense standoff of who is going to strip off first. And then I got tired of waiting for him to do it, so I shot forward and pulled his down before doing the same for me. All was well until the first cars started to drive past, and he panicked, pulling down my briefs as well. And that means there are now two naked little brown boys in the front yard of my auntie's house. I did the only thing that came to my mind – I froze into the position of my favorite statue and tried to hold it without trembling."

Kendra burst into giggles at the mental image of Seth posing as a statue, his little legs wobbling under the exertion of trying to keep perfectly still. "Did you get away with it?" Lyor asked, winking at Kendra.

"I wish that I could say that we did. However, one of the neighbors drove by at entirely the wrong time, and as soon as she reached her home, she called my aunt. Since I was the younger of us, I didn't get blamed for being a little exhibitionist, but Mom was furious with me nonetheless."

Her mirth seemed to replace her earlier sorrow, and all too soon her giggles turned into a full, uncontrollable, laugh. Lyor joined in moments later, followed by Seth, and Kendra started crying from her laughter, which felt so much better than crying from sadness. Swiping beneath her eyes, Kendra tried to get control of herself once more, but it was futile, as the giggles kept coming.

It was so easy to lean over into Lyor's space, and he welcomed her with a warm arm around her shoulders, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek as he looked at her with sheer adoration in his gaze. "Thank you," she mouthed before letting her head come to rest on his shoulder before looking down at her plate. She was surprised that somehow, with Seth's distracting story, she had managed to eat most of her calzone, and a pleased purr slipped from her lips.

"Well, now that Kendra is feeling a bit better, how about we settle our tab and call an Uber to drive us home?" Seth asked, reaching out to rub her knee a little.

"An Uber? I've barely had anything to drink!" she protested, and Seth and Lyor shook their heads in unison. "All right, fine, but one of you two can call it this time."

Seth nodded as he pulled out his mobile, tapping away at it as Lyor signaled to their server. Even before she had reached their table, Lyor had his wallet out, and he quickly settled their tab before looking expectantly at Seth. "Our driver will be here in ten minutes. We should have just enough time to finish our drinks before we head outside."

Kendra nodded as she sat up, reaching for her glass and gulping down half of what remained, feeling a pleasant burn start to settle in her stomach. As soon as the rest of their beers were finished, Lyor was shifting out of the booth, holding his hand out to Kendra. She clasped it and allowed him to tug her out, steadying her when she wobbled a little. Seth reached out and touched the small of her back, gesturing towards the door with his head.

She let out a heavy breath as she nodded, heading there before Seth and Lyor, allowing them to have a bit of space to talk, since she had dominated much of the evening already. Zipping up her jacket, she shivered a little at the chill in the air. "Do you need my suitcoat?" Lyor whispered in her ear as they huddled close together on the sidewalk, watching Seth look for their driver.

"I should be okay," she murmured in return, though she did step a bit closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arm around her waist as she leaned against his chest, listening to the sound of his breathing. "I would have slept with him tonight."

"What stopped you?"

Kendra took a deep breath. "Realising that I had most likely been coerced into sleeping with him the first time and checking my natural instincts. Looking into his eyes and seeing that what was reflected there was not what I wanted reflected at me. Not when I can look at you and see my heart." Pursing her lips together, she closed her eyes tightly, trying to stem the tears that were prickling there.

"Hey guys, the driver is here," Seth said as he jogged up to them. Kendra was so grateful for that interruption, as it allowed herself to be distracted by something outside her control. Reaching out her hand, she took hold of Seth's and allowed him to guide her over, Lyor following in their footsteps. "All right, I'll sit next to the driver, you get in the back with Kendra, Lyor."

Though Kendra would have preferred to be in the middle of them on the drive home, she knew that Seth was trying to be mindful of them, which made her heart all the more tender towards him. It was a little difficult to get into the SUV, but Lyor was there to help her, and she smiled a little at the way he took care of her. Kendra's head came to rest on Lyor's chest once more as the driver took off into the night.

It was when the driver stopped in front of Lyor's place that she realized they weren't all going their separate ways that evening, which suited her just fine. She needed to be taken care of tonight by the two men who meant the most to her, and she knew that that was exactly what would happen the minute they were safe inside Lyor's home. She had seen imaginary love that evening in her former mentor, knocked down from his pedestal to dwell among the mortal realm. Now, though, she would experience real love with Lyor and Seth, knowing that they always had her best interests at heart.


End file.
